Mike Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer, New Orleans
via Product Design and Development
5/21/2010
BP is using chemical dispersants to fight the oil spill, but at least one high-profile advocate has convinced the company to employ devices that essentially would vacuum up the oil.
Kevin Costner has invested more than $24 million to develop centrifuge devices designed to clean water polluted by oil. He and a business partner, New Orleans attorney John Houghtaling II, successfully lobbied government officials to urge BP to lease the machines from their company, Ocean Therapy Solutions. On Tuesday, a BP official said the devices will be tested within a week.
Houghtaling says the devices are capable of cleaning up to 200 gallons of water per minute, or 210,000 gallons per day, by separating the oil and storing it in tanks.
Houghtaling said Costner has been working on the project for more than a decade, building on technology developed by the federal government, but hadn’t found any takers in the oil industry before this spill.
H/T Cameron
See also, LA Gov. takes first tour of oil-soaked marsh, May 19, 2010. The governor thinks dredging will help protect the most sensitive wetlands in his state but has been waiting for a reply from the Federal government for his request for a permit to do so. H/T Westerly Tea Party
